Joss Whedon: Guardians of the Galaxy Doesn’t Actually Take Place in Our Galaxy

We could listen to Joss Whedon talk about Marvel continuity all day. While next year brings us into Phase 3, and we look to Whedon for all things Avengers, he hints at how Age of Ultron will affect Cap’s emotional state at the end of Winter Soldier. And what’s that about Guardians of the Galaxy?

Talking to Nerd HQ, Whedon made it sound like Marvel head Kevin Feige keeps him involved on a need-to-know basis:

Kevin has a big plan and every now and then, he’ll tell me part of it if he thinks it’s going to affect what I’m doing or if he thinks what I’m doing is going to affect his. But as much as possible, I try to live in my own bubble. Guardians is very much its own thing. They’re not the Guardians of this galaxy; it’s a different one. So, I can sort of keep them at arm’s length, long enough to do my thing, and then I’m sure everything is going to get mixed together because it’s Marvel.

Feige has teased that there could be an eventual Avengers/Guardians crossover, even with just a few characters from each team, due to them existing in the same universe. But Whedon’s words have us thinking that might not happen for a while, if the Avengers are set to fight Ultron in an entirely different (and probably less colorful) galaxy than the Guardians’ inaugural adventure. Thanos may be able to hop galaxies easily, but it seems like it’ll be a while before any superheroes follow suit.

The fact is, Ultron is a clear and present danger, and Bucky’s in the wind. We do mention the fact that that’s his sort of primary thing, but he’s also working with the Avengers, too. We’re not ignoring it, but he definitely has to deal with a mad, 8-foot robot, because that’s one of those things that you put it off and it just gets worse.

In the MCU, the galaxies have already been connected through the Thor/Avengers stuff. Loki working with the Chitauri. Thor's people associating with The Collector. So galaxy hopping already ain't really no big.

But Whedon’s words have us thinking that might not happen for a while,if the Avengers are set to fight Ultron in an entirely different (and probably less colorful) galaxy than the Guardians’ inaugural adventure.

This is forgetting that the Asgardians jumped right over to Knowhere with no problem at the end of Thor 3.

I don't think Whedon is saying it's a seperate "universe" as the article is implying, just that for the moment they are far enough away from the crossover, that he is not actively working towards how to integrate them.

I don't think he meant it literally. I think that when he said that they were not in his galaxy, I think he meant that he's not activly dealing with them in his mind. That he's just focusing on his specific section of the MCU and that he's keeping GotG and its cast of characters at arm's length.

@8: Agreed. It sounds to me like a metaphorical, Whedony way of saying "What they're doing in their movies doesn't affect mine."

Still, though, I wish folks in sci-fi would stop treating galaxies as if they were small places. Our galaxy alone has as many as 400 billion stars. No one civilization could possibly encompass more than a fraction of it; even if it had the speed to cross the galaxy quickly, that's just too many entities for one civilization to encompass without collapsing under its own weight into multiple smaller civilizations. So different stories could be entirely separate without needing to be in physically distinct galaxies.

I agree that's what Whedon meant, but it seems as if this article is implying something different from that. Thanos may be able to hop galaxies easily, but it seems like it’ll be a while before any superheroes follow suit.This just seems like it's overcomplicating Whedon's statement.

Gods and immortals seem to have an easier time of galaxy-hopping than human orphans and GMO raccoons.

The stories happen in different galaxies, and if I'm right, nobody has bridged the distance without the help of Asgardian tech/magic.

Pulling back out of the story and looking at it from a fan perspective: for the tone they'll need to carry to pull off the Age of Ultron well, I wouldn't want the GotG in there. I really enjoyed the blend of humour and action in the GotG, and you can't do that in AoU and do the storyline credit.

"Well what do you know, all we had to do was throw a toaster in Ultron's bathwater. Why didn't we try this before?"

And we don't know which galaxy MCU Asgard's supposed to be in either. Assuming we keep the MCU versions of Kree-Lar and/or Hala, Xandar, Knowhere, Morag, and the Kyln in M31/Andromeda - seems safe enough for now - we've got a lot of territory to fill up with other species and star-nations.

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